Let the Truth Sting
by snarkysweetness
Summary: After the curse is broken, Emma confronts August for leaving her.


**Title: **Let the Truth Sting

**Author:** snarkysweetness

**Rating: **PG-13

**Characters:** Emma Swan & August W. Booth

**Summary:** After the curse is broken, Emma confronts August for leaving her.

**Warnings: **Angst for those who can't handle things that aren't bright and shiny. I like my characters dark and twisty because they're more interesting that way.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Notes: **This was supposed to be friendship angst and I'm shocked it stayed that way because these two have too much damn chemistry.

"You left me."

Emma stands in the doorway to his room at Granny's, leaning against the frame, watching him pack a bag. He looks up at her and for a moment, he wears an expression of relief before guilt takes over his features.

"And it looks like you're doing it again."

"I-no, Emma, I'm not-"

August sighs and runs a hand over his face. He looks exhausted. Dying and coming back to life would do that to you. Emma really should go easy on him, but she can't. Now that she knows that the curse was real, that his story wasn't some lie, she's overcome with anger. He'd done nothing but lie to her for weeks. She didn't normally let people's actions affect her this way, but he wasn't just anyone. She'd come to rely on him.

He should have tried harder to tell her the truth.

This was Henry's fault. Before coming here she'd never bothered to let herself get attached. Now she had her kid back, August, Margaret, and there'd also been Graham.

But she loved the kid so she wouldn't hold it against him. Plus, he had been right about this whole curse thing. As crazy as it was.

August shoved some more clothes into his bag before zipping it up.

"There's no point in me staying here, not now that I can be with my father. Thank you, for…you did it."

Emma hated the way he looked at her. It made it hard to be angry with him. He really did care about her. She didn't understand how he could have left her. She knew he was just a child and it was irrational to be angry with him, but if he'd stayed, maybe things would have been better.

"I did."

"How?"

Emma can't help but smile. "Henry. He…he died. And when I kissed him good-bye, the kid woke up."

Now it's August's turn to smile. "True love's kiss."

Emma laughs. "Yeah. Crazy."

They stare at one another for a long moment.

"You left me."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that you left me alone in that place. It was horrible, August. And then by the time I was able to run away I was so damaged I let myself fall for some asshole, get knocked up, and then I wound up in jail and they all but forced me to give Henry up. And my life since leaving that kid has been nothing. No friends. No sex. I never stayed in one place longer than a year. And yours can't have been much better. You can tell me all of the stories you want, but you can't tell me you didn't feel empty inside most of the time."

August moved towards her and leaned against the desk.

"Why do you think I had to keep going? I couldn't let myself stay in one place. I spent most of my time drinking and going place to place to try and avoid going back to find you. And then…I just stopped thinking about you. Until my leg started turning back to wood. I don't have a good reason why I left. I was young. I'd only been a boy for a few months and before that two or three years as a puppet. I was just so scared. We were in this strange world, they people in that group home, well, you know how they are. And I tried to take you with me, but what was I going to do with a baby?

I tried going back, but you weren't there.

I should have told you sooner but you wouldn't have believed me. I couldn't tell you until we'd gotten closer and you trusted me. And even then-"

He shrugged.

"So you can't even give me a real reason why you left and never really tried to come back for me? You should have kept trying, August. You were all I had and you abandoned me just like I always thought my parents had abandoned me."

Emma was crying now. Listening to him hadn't made her feel better, it made her feel worse. Her parents hadn't been there for her and even though it wasn't their fault, it was still the truth. And August had abandoned her.

"You're supposed to be my person and now I don't even know how to look at you. I can't be in the same room with Margaret anymore. All she and David do are apologize and go on about how proud they are of me. Henry's too young to-" Emma let out a sigh of frustration.

"All I want to do it tell you about how scared I am and hide behind you while everyone keeps trying to get me to be some princess or savior or whatever the Hell they want me to be. And I can't, because all I can think about is that you left me and I'm not even sure you're actually sorry. Because nothing you're saying to me makes me think you really understand what you leaving did to me."

Emma turned to leave because she couldn't stand to look at him anymore. He looked hurt and she didn't like being the one to do that to him but she hated the fact that she cared even more. He deserved to feel some pain right now because all Emma had felt for over twenty-eight years was pain. And she'd had to feel it alone. Having August wouldn't have fixed her life, but having him there would have meant she wouldn't have been alone. And maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have been manipulated into giving Henry away. She'd tried to tell herself it had been the best thing for him, but now that she knew him and Regina, she knows she could have given him more, because at least she would have loved him and put him before everything else. And she wouldn't have had to do it alone.

She felt August before she heard him. And then he was pulling her into his chest, letting her cry.

At first she just sobbed and then she found herself hitting his chest, angry again. When she calmed down after a few minutes, August 'shushed' her, running his hands through her hair.

"I understand, trust me, I get it. I am not proud of myself. I hated myself for a long time, but I can't hate myself anymore. I tried to make it up to you and I know you think it wasn't enough, but it was as much as you could handle. People make mistakes, Emma. I promise you, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I know it doesn't fix anything, but I will try.

I know we've only known each other for a few months but you're my best friend. I love you and I love that kid and I'm not leaving again, you hear me?"

August was hugging her tightly now, his lips were buried in her hair, and his voice was breaking. Emma wasn't sure why the sound of his voice got to her when his words couldn't, but it did.

Emma hugged August back, burying her face in his neck. Her tear ducts were dried out but her body still shook with tears.

They stood like that for nearly an hour before Emma could bring herself to pull away from him.

"You're really not leaving again?"

Emma hated how vulnerable she felt, but she needed to be right now. Because the moment she left Granny's, she'd have to put her wall back up, for Henry, for her parents, and for the whole damn town. So she was rolling for it, for now.

August took her hand and kissed it.

"Not even if you try to make me."

"Good. Because if you do; I will shoot you."

August laughed but Emma raised an eyebrow. She meant it.

August grabbed his bag, typewriter, and slung an arm over her shoulder before leading her towards the staircase.

"You're a violent woman, Princess."

"And I'll shoot you if you ever call me 'Princess'."

August smirked and kissed the top of her head.

"Just remember to aim for the ass, it will hurt less," he teased.

"Been shot often?"

"Does being shot at count?"

Emma rolled her eyes and August gave her a small nod of approval. Her cheeks weren't red anymore. Her eyes were still a bit puffy, but it wasn't completely clear that she'd been crying. He knew that Emma wouldn't want anyone else to know.

"Ready to go save the world?"

"I've already slain a dragon, how hard could saving the world be?"


End file.
